With postal staff on strike, private couriers make hay serving the unserved

With postal staff on strike, private couriers make hay serving the unserved

WThe indefinite strike by Grameen Dak Sevaks (GDS) has come as a boon for local courier companies in the erstwhile Warangal district.

Express News Service

WARANGAL: The indefinite strike by Grameen Dak Sevaks (GDS) has come as a boon for local courier companies in the erstwhile Warangal district. It is learnt that the courier companies received a lot of documents and parcels for deliveries to rural areas in the last one week. Most of the courier companies are now witnessing a sudden surge in their business due to the strike. They have been expecting an increase in their business to the tune of 20 to 30 per cent if the strike goes on for a considerable period of time.

“Both the incoming and outgoing business had increased by five to seven per cent in the first two days of the strike. We expect it to increase by about 20 per cent as the strike goes on,” Suryanarayana Reddy, a local courier owner, stated.

“We are have been doing a good business in the last few days. Normally, our dealings are primarily with our regular clients. However, with this strike, we are expecting an increase in the number of walk-in-clients.The covers and parcel deliveries in small towns and rural areas have almost doubled. We are charging extra amount for deliveries to interior places. We are expecting more business in the coming days,” said DTDC courier Hanamkonda centre in-charge Rajender Reddy.

Rural population—worst hit

Though the strike has not affected the urban population much, the rural population is the worst hit as a lot of people in villages still use postal services for various works and financial transactions. 

A large number of people were seen queuing in courier centres in Warangal city, Narsampet, Parkal, Jangaon town, Wardhanapet and other small towns in erstwhile Warangal district. Many people were seen sending documents using courier services to even Hyderabad. 

Many courier companies have appointed temporary staff to meet the increasing demand. “We mainly operate in small towns, hence, we are getting good number of documents and parcel deliveries. Even some big courier companies have been hiring our services. We have appointed few youths for deliveries in towns and nearby villages as the demand for the services has been exceeding our capacity,” A Jagdish of a local courier company said.

The GDS strike had also affected the deliveries of driving licenses, ATM cards and passports. Many people who were expecting passports this month are a worried lot as passports are sent through speed posts. As GDS are on strike, they may have to wait till the stir calms down.

Post offices to operate as banks from June

In what could be a good news for the people of Karimnagar and Rajanna-Sircilla districts, the post offices will function as banks from second week of June. The union government had sanctioned India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) services in two districts. This IPPBs work at par with nationalised banks. Space and staff has been allocated at existing headquarters of postal offices.